roccoschili Chapter 53: Baiyun Temple
Chapter 53: Baiyun Temple
The next morning at 10:30, Cheng Xiaojin pushed his broken bicycle out the door.
Tieguai Li removed his prosthetic leg and leaned against the door frame, his brows furrowed. "I'll keep watch inside. If I don't see you in two hours, I'll crawl to Baiyun Temple to find you."
"Forget it, those steps could break your good leg too."
Tieguai Li's face darkened, and he slammed the wrench heavily on the table.
"Just kidding, Lao Li. I guarantee I'll be back in two hours."
After a 40-minute ride, we arrived at Baiyun Temple outside Xibianmen. There were only a few tourists at the entrance, and the tour guide was shouting about Qiu Chuji. The loudspeaker echoed so loudly that our eardrums were ringing.
The chain was wrapped around the iron railing and locked. After passing through the mountain gate, the passageway was lined with old locust trees on both sides.
One tree, two trees, a third tree.
A man, about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, stood in the shade of a tree. He was rather thin and wore a linen shirt on a hot day. The collar was neatly ironed, and the sleeves were rolled up to his forearms. He loosely clutched a string of sandalwood beads in his hand.
He was wearing a pair of flat leather shoes, not even a speck of dust on them.
Cheng Xiaojin stopped two steps away.
The other party nodded, his tone exactly the same as in the phone call last night, "Brother Cheng."
Cheng Xiaojin looked him up and down for two seconds. "Last time you broke into my house, you didn't even knock off a single sheet clip on the opposite balcony. Your skills are amazing."
The man smirked. "An old-fashioned brass latch from thirty years ago. You can open it with a fingernail."
"Just to leave a note? Why not just come in and leave something? Why not even rummage through the closets?"
"Let's get to know each other first; this can't be rushed."
Cheng Xiaojin pressed his tongue against his back teeth and said, "You've been familiar with people for more than half a year, and you've even figured out how to pull out all the stakes and Xin Jin guide evil spirits. Your methods are pretty wild."
The man flicked a sandalwood bead with his thumb. "There's no such wild path. It's just that we've been keeping an eye on things, watching when Brother Cheng will stumble upon that lump of iron."
Cheng Xiaojin's eye twitched. "You knew about that piece of iron all along?"
"I know, and I also know that it will see the light of day sooner or later."
The man turned around and sat down on the stone stool at the root of the locust tree. He patted the empty seat next to him and said, "Sit down and let's talk. Standing is tiring."
Cheng Xiaojin didn't move.
"My surname is Liu, and my given name is Bai. I am about the same age as Brother Cheng."
柳。
Cheng Xiaojin's mind went blank for a moment.
The annotation on the last page of the surviving scroll reads: "This is the first volume of the scroll, from the collection of the Liu family."
He remained expressionless, hesitantly sitting down on the opposite stone stool. "Liu Bai? Which Liu?"
"The willow of the willow tree."
"You spent half a year in Liulichang just to buy some bamboo paper to burn some sandalwood incense?"
"Writing letters requires bamboo paper, and using sandalwood is purely a hobby; I hope Brother Cheng will forgive my imperfections."
"Blue-black ink paired with handmade bamboo paper, I've been squatting in Panjiayuan for six years, and this is the first time I've seen someone so poor yet so particular."
Liu Bai's lips twitched slightly. "After six years of running a street stall, you've developed the finger technique to flick iron and hear the dragon's roar. This is the first time I've ever seen such a skill, Brother Cheng."
The sun was scorching, cicadas were howling in the trees, and a draft blew in through the passageway, flipping up one corner of Liu Bai's shirt collar.
Cheng Xiaojin braced his elbows on his knees, leaned forward, and said, "Tell me, Liu Bai, what exactly do you want from me?"
Liu Bai met his gaze without looking away.
"The second volume of the incomplete 'Tiangong Kaiwu' is in your hands."
Cheng Xiaojin's breath hitched.
"The first volume is with me."
A casual remark, almost as casual as asking if you've had lunch.
"Back then, our two fathers made a rule that the scroll would be divided into upper and lower parts, with each side keeping half."
Cheng Xiaojin fell silent, rubbing his thumb back and forth between his thumb and forefinger. "Words are meaningless. What proof do you have that the first volume is in your possession?"
Liu Bai reached into the inside pocket of his shirt and pulled out a piece of paper.
The yellowed handmade bamboo paper was brittle, and the four corners were sealed with beeswax to prevent insects. It was laid out facing Cheng Xiaojin.
The vertically arranged traditional Chinese characters in the handwritten ink are exactly the same as those on the tattered scroll, and the paper is older and the ink is darker.
On the top half of the page, two large characters caught my eye: "Discernment of Character".
The four smaller characters at the bottom read: Guan Qin Ding Yuan.
Of the six methods of instrument identification on the fragment, the last four are empty shells. He had seen the method of observing the source, but it didn't explain how to operate it in detail.
The half-page in front of me is densely covered with methods for treating the symptoms.
Cheng Xiaojin's right hand involuntarily rose up, reaching half an inch toward the bamboo paper—a professional instinct ingrained in the bones of an antique dealer.
Liu Bai flipped his wrist, folded the paper, and stuffed it back into his pocket. "Watch and don't move, Brother Cheng, don't be in a hurry."
Cheng Xiaojin's hand hovered in mid-air, pausing for half a second before slowly retracting.
He glanced at the half-page for less than three seconds, but the first two lines of the mantra at the bottom were already firmly imprinted in his mind, fitting perfectly with the blank space on the tattered scroll.
"Trying to use just half a page as evidence? Who knows if it's just copied from somewhere else?"
"Brother Cheng is right to be wary of me."
Liu Bai gripped the sandalwood beads tightly again. "Volume 1, pages 1 to 72; Volume 2, pages 73 to 112; a total of 112 pages."
"If I were to slam the first volume down in front of you, you could just place those two fingers on it and the truth would be revealed on the spot."
"Then why don't you dare bring it along?"
"Since this is our first meeting, let's each take a step back, discuss the details first, and then inspect the goods."
Cheng Xiaojin leaned back against the tree trunk. "Cheng, Pan. Why did you suddenly appear looking for me today?"
Liu Bai flicked a sandalwood bead with his thumb. "You pulled out the third one, and the formation is loosened."
The action of moving the beads stopped.
"Only by combining the two volumes can the method of returning the stake be complete. You only have a list of stake locations and talismans, but the rituals for returning the stake and the techniques for guiding the burial site are all in pages 46 to 51 of the first volume."
Cheng Xiaojin tapped his tongue against his teeth.
"What makes you so sure I want to return to the camp?"
"If you don't go back to the factory, what other options do you have? Are you just going to let the people in Panjiayuan get up in the middle of the night to count the dead and then throw their lives away?"
These words were spoken politely, but Cheng Xiaojin felt a chill run down his spine.
This matter was just reported to Zhou Banxian this morning. There are a total of seven cases within a three-kilometer radius, and no more than ten people know the details.
"You've even figured this out?"
"I told you, I've been watching it the whole time."
Liu Bai stood up and dusted off the hem of his shirt. "Brother Cheng, you can't do without me right now. This isn't meant to threaten you; it's just the truth."
"The method of returning to the burial site must be based on the array diagram, the ritual must be in accordance with the upper volume, and it must be timed to coincide with the period from midnight to 1 AM on the night of the full moon."
"What use is a timer to you? The array diagram is in Boss Lin's pocket, and the ritual manual is in my hands."
Cheng Xiaojin supported himself on his knees and stood up.
I quickly went through it in my mind: the time of the full moon can be found by checking the almanac; the array diagram is in the hands of Boss Lin and a few people know about it; but the ritual for returning to the almanac is stuck on pages 46 to 51. Such detailed page numbers mean that you absolutely have to wear out the original book to be able to recite it.
"Name your price. What do you want?"
"I'll just take a look at the second volume and return it to you. I'll only copy the few pages I need."
Which pages?
Liu Bai tilted his head slightly, "We can talk in detail when Brother Cheng trusts me."
He turned and took two steps toward the gate, then paused and turned his head away.
"By the way, Brother Cheng, your hand."
Cheng Xiaojin clenched his right fist reflexively.
"Xin metal leads to evil, injuring the finger you use for eating, right? The method of recovery is recorded on page 31 of the first volume. It explains clearly how to gradually restore the sensitivity of the fingertip after the Xin metal energy is depleted."
Cheng Xiaojin gritted his teeth and remained silent.
I rubbed my right thumb against the pad of my index finger in my palm, and the dull feeling through the plastic wrap lingered.
He really wanted to read the page that Liu Bai mentioned.
"Take this booklet and exchange it; you can look at any page you like."
Liu Bai turned and stepped into the temple gate. His linen shirt billowed in the draft, and his flat leather shoes made no sound as they stepped over the bluestone slabs.
Cheng Xiaojin stood under the third old locust tree, his forehead burning from the scorching sun, the cicadas chirping irritatingly, and the tour guide still belting out Qiu Chuji's tune.
He mentally replayed every single move the two had just made.
This guy surnamed Liu has too many tricks up his sleeve. He's so skilled at pulling out the stake and guiding the evil spirits that he's ruined the living and the living. He even knows everything about Tieguai Li's broken leg and the bald owner of the stationery shop.
But one thing was missing.
From the moment the two of them opened their mouths, the young man didn't mention Master Ma at all.
He didn't ask where the genuine Zhenhai ironware was hidden in the courtyard house, the hidden compartments made of rosewood.
Was he genuinely blind and didn't notice, or was he deliberately hiding it?
Regardless of the reason, this person still has a killer move up their sleeve.
Cheng Xiaojin took out the Qianlong Tongbao coin from his pocket, pressed his thumb against the copper surface and rubbed it hard twice, but the dull feeling still clung to his fingertips.
He stuffed the copper coins back into his pocket, hopped on his bicycle, and pedaled furiously back. His back was soaked with sweat, mostly cold sweat.